Reviews in Brief: Yamimaru Enjin's The Way to Heaven

Back on track, finally. I was sure I had done this one here already, but apparently not. The Way to Heaven is one that took me a while to catch on to. It's got a lean, sketchy story, some very subtle relationship building, and Enjin plays with time, place, and point of view in ways that could be confusing but actually do work.

Keigo Moriya is crossing a pedestrian bridge when he discovers a small dog tied to one of the supports under the walkway. He leans over the rail to try to save the dog and begins to fall. Kifumi Watase, who is crossing the same bridge, attempts to save Moriya, but both men fall into the highway, where they are hit by a speeding truck. They awaken in a room with a woman who claims to be from another galaxy, come to save Earth from ecological disaster through an energy-recycling technique that her people have discovered. Each of the men is typed: Watase is a "vampire" and his part in the experiment is to harvest blood, while Moriya is a "werewolf" -- he is to harvest semen. They will be allowed to go back in time based on how much of each fluid they harvest. It seems that Watase remembers Moriya from their previous lives: Moriya was a boxer and Watase saw him at his first professional bout, which also ended his career, but even though he lost the fight, Watase says that witnessing Moriya's fighting spirit and determination changed his life: part of a yakuza gang, he went straight.

The strength of this one is the subtlety Enjin uses in depicting the growing love between Moriya and Watase. It's Watase who is the prime mover here, although as we learn, in their "real life" he was totally straight and rather disdainful of Moriya, who was his boss' lover, although more a plaything than a serious engagement. And it's Moriya who is most resistant to the growing emotional bond between them.

The drawing is wonderful -- lean, clear, and very expressive. The style is spare, and narrative flow is always clear, even though the layouts are very fluid. There are a couple of sex scenes, fairly reticent, and the character designs are appealing.

This is another from Juné.